Nightmares of Titan Tower Part Two
by Bilious
Summary: It seems The Titans' traumatic experience is finally over. Too bad Jump City's criminals aren't going to wait for the team to take a break. Raven can't shake the feeling that something strange is still going on... and she's right! [a sequel]
1. They weren't there there

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans.

This is the sequel to Nightmares of Titan Tower Part One. That story can be found in my profile. You will not be disappointed!

-

Raven lay in her bed for several minutes after she had awoken. After last night she doubted that any of the Titans had spent their mornings any differently. She didn't want to go anywhere for another hour or two and she struggled to relax. Eventually the pressure on her bladder was too great and she had to get up.

Outside her window the sun was high in the sky. Midday, yet a blanket fog still draped the bay and much of Jump City. Even the island below and several levels of Titan's Tower were obscured by the thick mist. The grey skinned half-demon noticed she felt a little foggy, too.

About twenty minutes later Raven entered the main room of the Tower. Scanning the disheveled room she was surprised to see Beast Boy and Cyborg sitting quietly at the dinner table. It was bent slightly from when she had hit it the night before, yet they had already eaten a couple bowls of cereal.

"Hey Raven," Beast Boy called while holding up some milk and a box of 'Yummeh Os,' "we're eating this stuff before the milk goes bad. Want to join us?"

The power was still out; earlier Raven had taken a shower in complete darkness. No electricity meant herbal tea was out of the question. "All right, but why don't we just fix the tower's power grid?"

"We can't do that yet," said Cyborg while he handed her the cereal. "We'd have to go into town for a new fuse box, and Robin and Starfire are still asleep."

"I suppose you two will want to get new parts for the T-Car and another Gamestation?"

"What's wrong with the T-Car?" Cyborg and Beast Boy said in unison. After a moment they gave each other sideways glances then looked back at Raven.

"Oh, right..." Cyborg said cautiously "the T-Car... yeah we should."

Raven sat on the far side of the other dinner table and poured a bowl of the multicolored sugar loops with her powers. The cereal fizzed and spun as she watched, then something caught her eye. Beast Boy was staring at her... it was the same look he gave her while that thing had controlled her dreams, the look he had before she killed him. Much to their surprise the table Beast Boy and Cyborg were sitting at bent back to its original angle. Raven closed her eyes and clenched her teeth... her loss of control was gone, for now. She hadn't lost control for a few months now... her meditation was able to keep her feelings suppressed until that nightmare beast had come along. It seemed strange to her... how powerful it had been in dreams, only to want to become real... in a place where it was easily defeated.

"Still feeling nervous?" Cyborg placed a metal hand on her shoulder, "It's over Rae, the thing's dead. It isn't even in the sub bay anymore, BB and I dissolved it this morning."

Beast Boy brought the bowl of colored milk, remnants of his meal, to his mouth and made the contents disappear.

Raven took a deep breath and soon felt better. Her half-metal friend was right, her nightmares had stopped and even if the creature returned the Titans would be ready. Yet there was still something strange about the situation.

'Since when does Beast Boy drink real milk and Cyborg ever stop thinking about his car?' Raven's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a distant explosion coming from the city. Car alarms and emergency sirens sounded in the distance.

Beast Boy pulled his eyes away the smoke rising from the cities finical district and looked at the other two Titans, "I've got a feeling Robin and Starfire are awake now."

-

"Come on, load up those bricks." An armored man standing in a truck bed barked. "The cops here have a five minute response time and it's already been two." His men were hastily filling the truck with gold bricks while he shot at anything that moved with a heavy blaster bolted to the truck, a hard task in the tick fog that surrounded him.

"Okay Rick, this is the last of it." Three gold thieves inside the vault climbed through the hole they had created one last time and got into the truck. Rick tapped the back window and the driver slammed onto the accelerator. The truck lurched forward then stopped, its wheels spinning out. Smoke from burnt rubber added to the thick blindness all around him. "What the hell?" Something was embedded in the rear of the vehicle, and the rope attached to it was held taut by something too far in the fog to see.

"Are you guys new around here?" Someone called out to him. Rick fired busts of energy at the voice but it sounded again from a different direction. "I'm also guessing subtlety isn't your forte, so well be blunt." The blaster fired again in response. "You guys messed up..." said Robin.

"...and now you're goin' down!" cried Cyborg as he yanked on Robin's grappling hook and tore the truck's rear wheels off. The truck fell back, tossing Rick to the pavement and burying him in bricks.

"Titans, GO!" the slightly stunned criminals inside the truck drew weapons, but they never had a chance. Starbolts smashed windows, dark energy removed the driver's side door along with the driver and a violent green dog managed to find its way into the cabin.

Moments later the police arrived and the Titan's leader pulled Rick out of the bricks. "Welcome to Jump City, try to steal something lighter next time."

The cops hauled the gold thieves away and started to clean up. Robin looked at the truck and whistled; nothing is a better confidence booster like an easy take down. They needed one after the mind fraying experience of the past few days... maybe there was something they could do to feel even better.

"You guys up for some pizza?"

-

With dozens of toppings, five types of crust and an outdoor dining area shaped like a pizza slice, "Pizza" was the most popular pizza restaurant in the whole Jump City Area. Also, the fact that all super heroes ate free made it the natural choice for the Titans.

"One extra large meat experience, a medium veggie supreme and a whole lot of soda, please."

The young cashier's eyes lit up. "Sure thing!"

A few minutes later the Titans were at their table being served. Beast Boy crouched on his stool with his arms raised to aid in telling Cyborg how he had deftly won the day. "So then I latch onto his leg," the green boy continued, "and after he dropped his gun he reaches into his pocket."

"Yeah, I was there," Cyborg said while grabbing a veggie slice, "it happened a few minutes ago."

"You were there," Beast Boy pointed out, "but you weren't there, there. So he's going for his pocket and I'm thinking 'grenade' or 'mind control device' so I had to stop him!"

"He was reaching for his inhaler," Cyborg said, "dude had asthma."

"Who's telling the story here?" Beast Boy snatched a slice covered in several different meats at ate it with a huff.

"I think you should give Beast Boy more credit," Raven said, her voice at an almost imperceptibly more cheerful tone than normal. The changing smiled at her kind words.

"He _did_ manage to cause a rather nasty asthma attack." Raven watched her green teammate fall off of his stool.

After the boy returned to his seat and grabbed another slice, Starfire stood up between Beast Boy and Cyborg. She reached two arms around them and with her superior strength brought them to her sides in a group hug. "Joyous!" she yelled happily, "You two have mended your culinary differences!"

"Huh?" is the best combination of what the other two Titans in her grasp said immediately preceding the hug.

"Beast Boy is enjoying the 'all meat experience' while Cyborg is eating asparagus and broccoli for the first time!" beamed Star while she started to hug the confused pair at either side of her again. After a silent pause in which Raven and Robin gave each other worried looks, Starfire pressed the issue. "You do not recall the hours upon hours you have spent arguing with each other over tofu and pepperoni?"

"Uhh..." said Beast Boy.

"Oh man..." muttered Cyborg, his face scrunched into an angered grimace. He grabbed Starfire by her shirt and lifted her into the air. Now it was her turn to be confused as he threw her with all his strength into a building across the street and followed it with a blast from his sonic cannon. "Come on BB, let's move!"

Before Robin and Raven could break from their bewildered states, Beast Boy had pasted their faces with the remnants of the pizza. The next moments were a dazed blur... By the time they had removed the scalding pizza from their faces Beast Boy and Cyborg had disappeared into the mist.

Something clicked in Raven's mind.

"No..." she said, Robin was about to leap off the building to help Starfire but the caped girl grabbed his tunic and pulled him towards her. "Don't you get it?"

"Get what?" he asked, his voice marked with confusion, fear, and anger.

"Remember when the monster absorbed Beast Boy's body from my dream? Why would it just do that to become corporeal and weak? Why would it let us wake up to kill it? Didn't you notice how easy it was to kill? And the way Beast Boy and Cyborg have been acting... it is like they're being played by actors who didn't learn everything about them... there's only one explanation."

Robin blinked and it dawned on him. His heart sank and he fell to rear as Raven let go of him.

Robin sighed. "After it was done getting Beast Boy from your dream, the creature won... and we never woke up."


	2. Down the pit again

"She's waking up again Cy, get over here!"

"How's she doing? Anymore..."

"Donno, she seems pretty calm... maybe she's finally out of it."

"Ugh..." Starfire groaned. Above her Cyborg raised an arm to protect his face while Beast Boy morphed into a turtle and took shelter in his shell. She blinked at them then asked groggily, "Guh... huh?"

Starfire was having a hard time remembering how she got to her room, or why she fell asleep upside down. (The strange fluffly bag was tucked under her head while her feet dangled over the edge.)

Cyborg lowered his arm and glanced at Beast Boy who changed back to his normal form in turn. "You feeling ok?" the half metal Titan ask as he put a steadying hand on Starfire's shoulder.

"I was not ok?"

"You gave us a few scares back there..." Beast Boy scratched the back of his head and smiled, "at one point you sort a..." he gave a nervous laugh, "woke up, hugged the both of us, and then went right back to sleep again..."

"I do not remember hugging you between periods of slumber..." Starfire searched her memory of the recent events; they were few and far between. "But I do recall Raven hurting you..." Starfire stopped. She recalled Raven killing Beast Boy and watching his lifeless body being dragged away, but the green boy stood before her as alive as ever.

The girl from Tamaran frowned and Cyborg squeezed her shoulder lightly, "Don't worry Star, you were having some pretty bad dreams, but they're over now."

"At least for you..." Beast Boy glanced at Starfire's blocked window, the metal shades that came down from the wall had completely sealed shut and no sunlight came through.

"Where are the others?" Starfire asked, sitting up slightly to get a better look of her room.

Beast Boy sighed heavily and sat on the corner of Starfire's bed, he'd let Cyborg tell her the bad news. He hoped Cy'd leave the worst of it for later.

"This morning you, Robin and Raven didn't get up... after a while we tried to wake you but nothing worked."

"Yeah," Beast Boy blushed, "and we tried_ everything_."

Beast Boys comment went over Starfire's head, Cyborg ignored it.

"Then," he continued, "little while ago you woke up, Star. You were screaming something about 'gold robbers' and 'broccoli'... we had no idea what to do but after throwing a few starbolts at us and collapsing on the floor we decided it was too dangerous to keep you in the infirmary with Robin and Raven... You've been 'waking up' and falling asleep for a few hours now, but they haven't changed at all."

Starfire's memory was piecing itself together but there were still large gaps. "They are still... dreaming?"

"I think so..."

"And they will wake up too?"

"We don't know Star, but right now there's nothing we can do for them."

-

Finally, Robin spoke. "Where is she?" he asked haggardly. He wasn't physically tired, not yet, but Raven's realization had like been a punch to the gut that sent him straight down the pit he had just crawled out of.

A jagged maw of broken glass and twisted metal smiled at them from where Starfire had smashed into an office building. The alien girl was not among the wreckage. Robin took out his communicator. Normally Starfire's personal locater would show him exactly where to look, but her signal, along with Cyborg and Beast Boy's, were erratic.

"They've taken her."

Raven didn't respond; she shifted her eyes from one place to another. Something wasn't right.

Her leader was disgusted at her apparent apathy over the matter. "Raven, she's in trouble." Robin's face was turning red.

"We have to find her!" Robin shouted as he grabbed her robe and jerked her closer. He had the urge to knock the witch over and put a knee to her solar plexus and scream it again until she'd pay attention... but he suppressed it.

Raven ignored the Boy Wonder for just a moment longer. Clearly finding Starfire is what Robin would want to do first, but it would get them no closer to saving her, not from this place. Deep down Robin must know that. She locked eyes with him. "We can't go looking for her, there isn't time. The sooner we-"

"The sooner we_ what_, Raven? We've got nothing. No where to go, nothing to lead us there. At least I want to help Starfire!"

At the other side of the pizza slice shaped dining area the double doors burst open.

"Let me go! This is_ my_ dream and _I _have to figure out away to get us out of it... it doesn't matter if we find Starfire or not, it won't help us wake up!"

Robin let go of Raven and balled his hands into a fists, they shook uncontrollably. _Raven was always doing this. Starfire is in trouble, he just knew it. No one was going to stand in the way of saving her... not even Raven._

**THUNK!**

The sobering sound of a knife embedding into wood brought Robin back from his bout of range. A butcher's knife shuttered inches away from his foot where it had landed. Through the double doors a small mob of the city's citizens was gathering: a few patrons that had fled from the chaos moments ago, several waitresses, and "Pizza's" legendary red chef (as seen on TV). Something wasn't right with them... something in their eyes, a cold, dead stare. The stout chef reached for another weapon, a long, flat slice cutter.

"What in the..." Robin didn't know what to make of it but drew his bo-staff anyway.

The chef raised his new weapon into the air and bellowed a war cry, a warrior ready to lead his charge into battle. A moment later he did just that. The horde charged at the two Titans at full speed, knocking over tables and trampling a few of their number in the process.

Instantly, Raven summoned a dark wall between the crazed citizens and herself. A few of them crashed right into it only to be hit from behind as more of them got closer. A moment later a rather large man stepped on the broken body of the young waitress who'd come before him and smashed futilely against the wall with his fist. The fact that he was killing the woman below him didn't seem to matter, nor did his shattered hand. He slammed the bloody appendage against the shadowed barrier again and fingers flew off in several directions. The man didn't even flinch.

Through it all there was a deafening roar of people screaming, cursing, and dying. The noise was so loud Raven couldn't ask Robin what he was doing. She had expected him to throw some smoke bombs or use his grappling hook to swing to another rooftop, but instead he was among the mob, twirling his staff and connecting with a few blows here and there.

Past her shield Raven saw the chef raise the blade of his slice cutter and make his way for Robin. A moment later the wall was gone and a table had hit the brightly colored chef umbrella first. It sent the his red hat into the air and his body spinning over the roof's edge, into the thick mist below. Someone grabbed Raven from behind.

The large man from before lifted her in the air; the bleeding stump of an arm made a vice grip around her neck. Panicked and over powered, Raven kicked her legs and grappled at the wounded arm uselessly. Robin saw her plight in the corner of his eye and quickly turned from his bloody business to throw a birderang. The dangerous toy arched in the air as it soared towards Raven's head; it caught the man in his eye. His grip loosened and Raven fell to the ground gasping for air, the man's blood left a metallic taste in her mouth as she breathed. She felt bothered, frightened, nauseous.

Robin was cutting a swath through the mass of people but more of them were racing up the stairs and onto the restaurant floor.

"We have to get out of here!" Raven got to her feet and pushed a few more attackers away with the wave of her hand.

Robin gave her a mad look before clacking another one across the head, "they aren't real, don't hold back!"

Another table went crashing into the crowd, "that isn't the point, there're too many of them!" it was the point, or near enough to the point, but she wasn't ready to face it, instead she mentioned another problem. "The whole city must be like this!"

Robin looked around him; the mob was twice its original size and yet more people were pouring through the double doors. "Raven! Take out the floor!" It would stop the people from reaching them, at least for a few moments.

Raven always feared that at heart she was truly evil, that one day she would turn on the people she had sworn to protect. In the crowd she recognized a few faces here and there, people she had saved... people who now had no choice but to destroy. She levitated away from their outstretched hands.

"Azarath."

There was a sudden change in the citizens' demeanor.

"Metrion,"

Their faces shifted from anger to abject horror, some began to flee.

"Zinthos!"

Raven's dark power rolled forth in waves. It lapped into people's backs and legs, pressed hard and braking their bodies. It smashed into the floor, hitting it where it was weakest and causing massive structural damage. Dozens of the frightened people fell over as the floor creaked and groaned from the impacts. They weren't being fought, they were being slaughtered.

"No!" Raven cried out "Stop it!" It didn't matter that they weren't real or that moments before they were attacking her. The people were afraid of her and completely helpless; their accusing eyes burned holes in her soul. Raven was almost overcome by feelings of remorse, energy swelled around her. Presently the floor collapsed, pulling the tables, chairs and bodies with it.

Robin stood on the edge of the crater; a few of the survivors writhed below. With the floor taken out the people at the double doors were cut off.

Raven landed next to him. Her emotions had been slipping for a while now, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to maintain control for much longer. She was shaken by the experience... the monster was finding more of her fears to play on. Raven would have to find a way to meditate in this place, or maybe even...

"That's it! We have to get moving."

"To find Starfire?"

"No, I know how we can get out of here! We've got to go back to Titan's Tower!"


	3. Homeward Bound

Florescent lights slowly came to life along the windowless corridor that lead to the infirmary. Much of the passage remained obscured by darkness as Starfire walked. Visions of dreams had come to her periodically, the bank robbery, a glowing red monster... fire. Her face was creased with worry and she clutched her arms tightly as if to prevent herself from falling apart. Cyborg and Beast Boy never mentioned anything about the monster. She could remember it clearly now. Meeting it in the basement... defeating it in the bowels of the tower. Could it have been real?

They had told her not to come here but she couldn't help it, she had to see how Robin and Raven were doing.

The girl from Tamaran reached for the door's controls; shadows moved behind her. The infirmary's door was connected to the rest of the Tower's security system. Starfire hoped the code hadn't changed. Her agile hands had only begun to enter the code when something fell from the corridor's ceiling and landed behind her. The landing caused a metallic clang; Starfire half spun-half jumped in fright. She was pushed against the wall and pinned there by the shoulders. A pair of green eyes locked with hers. "Starfire you shouldn't be here!" It was Beast Boy.

Starfire's fright turned to shame. She avoided the green boy's eyes, choosing instead to stare at the at metal floor. "Forgive me Beast Boy... I had to see them."

"Starfire, you don't want to do that." Beast Boy let go of her shoulders and she let herself slump to the floor. The green boy's eyes softened. "Remember what happened the first time you woke up in there?"

She shook her head.

"It wasn't pretty... no way you want to do that again."

"I do not understand, what has happened to them?" Starfire put her head in her hands and sobbed quietly. "What has happened to me?"

"Cyborg's working on it Star. Robin and Raven will be fine... you've just got to trust us." Beast Boy extended his hand to her. Starfire wiped away the tears. She looked at her friend and smiled.

"I trust you,"she lied. Starfire took his hand and Beast Boy helped her stand.

* * *

"We've to get back to Titan's Tower!"

"There's no way I'm leaving Star-" Dark energy cracked and swirled around Raven's Body. The topic was not open to discussion. "Uh... then let's fly out of here."

Raven frowned. "We can't."

"Why not?"

From the ruined floors below, someone threw a chair at the two Titans. Raven turned towards the flying object. She wailed as dark energy arched from her hands. The explosion sent bits and pieces of the chair flying everywhere. The distraught witch eyed Robin as she caught her breath, "_that's_ why."

"Well then..." said Robin as he idly played with his utility belt before looking at the ground below. "I can get us to the tower, but I don't think you're going to like it."

* * *

"**Raahhbiiin**!"

The R-Cycle landed hard shooting sparks in its wake. None of the Titans' pursuers had been able to keep up with them so far but Robin wasn't about to give them a chance. He twisted the accelerator.

Raven closed her eyes and tried her best to ignore the roar of the bike's engine. "Could you possibly make this any more detrimental to meditation?" she mumbled, knowing that Robin couldn't hear her.

The Boy Wonder swerved to avoid collision with a green Waste Management truck by careening through a pile of garbage bags.

Raven pulled a rotting banana peal from her face, "I guess you _could_..."

Night descended quickly in the dreamt version Jump City that surrounded them. Robin wondered if the creature had bothered to let the sun set or if he merely snuffed it out. But why bother to add this slight hindrance? Why not just kill the R-Cycle's engine? Why not destroy us both right now? He turned on the cycle's headlight.

"Raven," said Robin through the deafening noise, "what are we going to do once we get to the tower?"

"I've got to get to my meditation mirror," The half demon tightened her grip around Robin's waist, "it's a portal into my mind. If I can expel the creature's influence there then maybe I can wake up. Maybe I can fight it."

"And the rest of us?" asked the masked boy while dreading the prospect of being thrown back into his own nightmare.

"I don't know."

Through the fog ahead red and blue lights flickered. Robin pressed down on the forward and back breaks... it was road block. Armored policemen leveled weapons at the R-Cycle while other's closed the trap behind the two Titans.

"This thing's determined to keep you here," observed Robin, "do you think you could make a shield around the R-Cycle?"

At the thought of controlling her powers, Raven saw the waitress being crushed to death. In her memories she was the one who killed her, she felt the woman's skull concave beneath her bare feet. "I could make a ball of dark energy that would crush the bike like an empty soda can..."

"Not... exactly what I'm looking for." Twin barrels deployed from the front of the super cycle. A moment later the road block was reduced to a flaming wreck; the R-Cycle sped through it.

Raven closed her eyes and leaned closer to Robin as he continued to speed them towards the tower. This time she welcomed the sound of the engine. It drowned the cries of the dead.

(Author's note: I must apologize to everyone over my lack of updates and the fact that this one is so short. I've been busy. I plan on updating again. Soon. I hope (even though this was a short one) that you enjoyed this update.)


End file.
